Summer Lackey League starting Friday, 10th of July

Round 11 saw 2 tables with a total of 8 players.

Table 1
MrFantocan, Tzimisce Block, 0.5 vp
Horus, Gangrel Toolbox. 0.5 vp
Yosha, Tremere Toolbox, 0.5 vp
kschaefer, Al-Muntathir Summon History Inner Circle Vote, 0.5 vp

Table 2*
DarklingKitsune, Tremere Cryptic Mission Toolbox, 0.5 vp
HolyMackerel, Gangrel Anarch Vote, 0.0 vp
angrynewb, !Toreador Bleed, 1.5 vp
Teylen, Giovanni Bleed /w Shambling Hordes, 1.5 vp

*: The original result was a gamewin by HolyMackerel, but after the game the player himself realised he had played with an illegal crypt. The judge decided a) to announce a game-loss and a warning to HolyMackerel and b) to give the others players involved each 0.5 vp in addition to any vp achieved during the game.

Saturday, 15-08-2020, saw a self-organised game with 4 players, Ventrue-heavy:

Pluto, Hardestadt Rush
Horus, Arika Bruise Bleed
Teylen, Giovanni Bleed with Shambling Hordes, 3 vp + gw
ResurrectioN, Ventrue Bleed, 1 vp

The title of Ventrue Inner Circle was contested, but Hardestadt was ousted before Arika reached her first unlock phase.

Yesterday, the last of 12 rounds of this League were played.
4 players each at 2 tables struggled against each other for the spot in the finals.

Horus, Toreador AAA Alastor, 0.5 vp
Teylen, Giovanni Shambling Hordes Combat, 0.5 vp
phoenix, Baali feat. Cybele Black Jack Bleed, 0.5 vp
kschaefer, True Brujah feat. Al-Muntathir Summon History Inner Circle Vote, 0.5 vp

BeslinIgor, HoS Emerald Legionnaire Bleed, 2.5 vp + gw
ResurrectioN, Tremere Toolbox
TheBard, !Tremere Bleed
angrynewb, Malkavian Block, 0.5 vp

These results lead to some changes in the ranking:

The finals of the Summer Storyline Lackey League will be played Friday, 28th of August, at 20:00 CEST. The game will be streamed live by Lionel Panhaleux, and the judge will be Hugh Angseesing.

And here are the finalists and their choices of clans for the finals:

• 5th place: Teylen = Jennifer Fuss (GER). Currently ranked #16 in the world ranking list (www.vtes-hook.com/vtes/show-world-ranking?ranking=tournament&show=worldrank). She scored 1 GW 6 VP during the 12 league rounds. It is her 2nd league finals, and it is her 2nd in a row. The clans she can choose from for the finals according to the special rules (www.vekn.net/forum/lackeyccg/78724-summer-lackey-league-starting-friday-10th-of-july?start=0#100288) are Baali and Giovanni.

• 4th place: kschaefer = Karl Schaefer (USA). Currently ranked #14. He scored 1 GW 7 VP. He was one of the finalists of the Online World Championship 2019. The clans he can choose from are Giovanni, Harbinger of Skulls, Lasombra, True Brujah and Ventrue.

• 3rd place: BeslinIgor = Igor Beslin (SER). Currently ranked #3. He scored 2 GW 7 VP. His most recent success was to win the Camarilla Revolution League 2020. The clans he can choose from are Gangrel and Harbinger of Skulls.

• 2nd place: Horus = Jens Niemann (KSA). Currently ranked #9. He scored 2 GW 8.5 VP. He was one of the finalists of the Online World Championship 2019. The clans he can choose from are Baali, Gangrel, Lasombra, Malkavian and Toreador.

• 1st place: TheBard = Rudolf Scholz (GER). Currently ranked #1. He scored 4 GW 15 VP. His most recent success was to win the UK COVID Lockdown Lackey Bleedfest 2020. The clans he can choose from are Harbinger of Skulls, Kiasyd, Malkavian, Ravnos, Toreador, Tzimisce, Ventrue and Ventrue antitribu.

The winner is Horus = Jens Niemann with a Toreador AAA Wall, congratulations! A report by the winner will follow soon.

There is a stream of the finals: www.twitch.tv/videos/724257922 – enjoy! :)

Vampire:The Eternal Struggle 2020 Storyline League Finals on LackeyCCG, 28 August 2020
Game report by finalist Jens Niemann

Ever played chess with 5 players? The storyline finals got as close to that as can be. This game was very strategical and slow. All players had visibly many options to consider and calculations to make, and for part of the table there was clearly a stalemate. I cannot explain the considerations of other players, not knowing their hands, but I can show in some of my own examples how difficult choices were, given the complexity of the table.
One major factor was certainly that all players had bounce. There was also massive intercept on the table with The Unmasking (total of 8 allies played) and the majority of vampires sporting superior Auspex. While Jenny and Karl bled often and for sizeable pool damage, in the whole game Igor bled once (unsuccessfully), I bled once with Alexandra and once with Anson (both deflected to Karl who lost 4 pool) and Rudolf bled once (misdirected to Jenny for the oust). There were also some looming threats on the table like Xipe Totec's or Francois' special ability, Jenny's 20+ locations and of course Legionnaires which could suddenly pop out of the Ash Heap, so one had to carefully inspect Ash Heaps, especially after Liquidation.
In sequence, Jenny was the first to bring out a weenie vamp, followed by Karl with Babalawo. Turn 3 saw Rudolf bringing out Xipe Totec, me turning Francois Villon face-up and Igor had a landfall with Erlik - special text - Erebus.
Rudolf and I had a standoff for most of the game. I would not dare to act undirected or block him (because of Vicissitude aggravated damage) before I had either dodge in hand or a 2nd vampire to block diablerie attempts, because Jenny had two weenies and Guillaume. We also stalemated vote-wise: Xipe-2, Francois-2, then in turn 6 Rudolf brought out Sha-Ennu (4 votes), which I followed up with Alexandra (4 votes). Torpor would only be an option if I could block Jenny and hope for a rescue from my cross-table allies. Those allies, however, would soon dissipate as I learned; one from lack of blood and the other from lack of interest in helping me.
Jenny steadily began building upon Guillaume's special abilities, bringing out a lot of locations with The Parthenon and equip actions such as Gran Madre de Dio - ultimately increasing her hand size to 24! She also recruited Carlton Van Wyk, Mylan Horseed and Leonardo, Mortician for a sizeable ground crew. Karl recruited an Emerald Legionnaire, later reinforced by another from his Ash Heap, and brought out Neighbor John and Solomon Batanewa. With 5 minions, permacept and wakes, he could afford to both block Jenny's bleeds and pressurize his prey.
Igor also recruited an Emerald Legionnaire, which was subsequently stolen by Xipe Totec after Rudolf pentexed Erlik. I drew Entrancement and with Toreador Grand Ball I stole Carlton from Jenny, who could protect himself thanks to The Umasking and FBI Special Affairs which Igor had in play, though it unfortunately helped predominantly other players (Jenny and Karl had far more allies than he).
Combatting his pre-owned Legionnaire cost Igor 4 blood (Erlik or Erebus, I don't remember), 2 from the Legionnaire's strike and 2 from FBI. Blocking Karl's bleeds with Legionnaires and vital-targetting vampires first brought Erebus to Torpor, then Erlik (but not before he could recruit a 2nd Legionnaire). Igor was soon to be ousted, which changed the table dynamics and especially politics. It was at this point where the course of the game was largely decided, or though it seemed... Although Rudolf had no pressure from his prey, Grand Ball must have made such an impression that my predator was offering his predator help if he removed it. Karl would not help me with the rescue, so to stop Igor cooperating with Rudolf I offered him to remove Pentex with Alexandra's infallible action.
For the moment, only Sha-Ennu was going after the Grand Ball, blocked by Carlton. Then, alas, Francois had to stop an attempt to steal him by Xipe Totec, which would bring me off balance. Since I had no combat or weapon cards in hand, the exchange got bloody and Chiropteran Marauder sent Francois to Torpor. My only fortune was that Rudolf failed to draw a Villein, which prevented him from bringing out a 3rd vampire, so I could survive with Alex and Carlton.
To have a chance I needed to rescue Francois, but I had only one action. Igor was doomed to die, but he believed he could survive and so I spent the action to remove the Pentex, hoping I could somehow protect Grand Ball for one more turn in order to rescue Francois. With Igor now having a chance to survive the next turn and Karl at somewhat lowered pool levels I could also hope that Jenny would go for a massive bleed, or at least a moderate one that could bring Karl within ousting range, but Rudolf quickly talked her out of this. So I had to face 5 minions of hers capable of removing Grand Ball, plus 2 from Rudolf's next turn. I had a slim chance because I could get out Anson and had 2 Second Traditions in hand. Unfortunately, he was locked by Gran Madre.
Jenny's minions stormed against the Toreador. Guillaume called for a Nocturn. If that action went through, Grand Ball was impossible to hold, unless I drew into more wakes. This was one of the phases in the game where a lot of counting (blood, actions, wakes) took place. Everything hung on a silken thread. I blocked 2 more attempts, but finally I had to yield Grand Ball and that was the end of it. I was back to defense mode with no hope of ousting my prey.
Igor indeed managed to survive longer than most, including me and his predator, were anticipating. Down to 4 pool, a single Legionnaire stood against Karl's 5 minions. This looked like a reasonably safe oust, except... Karl's vampires were all low on blood. He had to give both Babalawo and John 1 blood from the vessel, and Solomon was at 4. Karl started bleeding with his two Legionnaires and Babalawo (who had a .44 Magnum). Igor took them all and was at 1.
Critical moment of the game: Solomon bleeds, Legionnaire blocks and is at 1 life. Karl has a press, but it would put Solomon into torpor (hand strike+FBI). Unnecessary, if Igor has no On the Qui Vive. What are the chances that he does? Karl checks Igor's Ash Heap. He takes the risk, presses not, bleeds with Neighbor John and ... gets qui vived!
Boom. John goes torpor and Igor survives. It was a memorable turn, and it was worth removing the Pentex Subversion just for seeing this happen, even if it meant my demise.
Igor would die next turn with 1 pool and no ready minions. Rudolf and I were in stalemate, and Jenny had to decide. Rescuing Erlik was suggested, but it was only a single block vs. Karl's 4 minions. Karl was tapped out. He also lost 3 pool to a deflected bleed by Alexandra, so Jenny put some more pressure on him. All players were down to very low pool levels and all vampires, with the exception of Sha-Ennu, were extremely low on blood (1,2 or 3). Moving first could expose any of us to be ousted by their predator (or in the case of Rudolf, by his soon-to-be predator). Jenny reckoned she could afford tapping out and she was right. My only block attempt was to finally get a concealed gun out, which got busted by a Direct Intervention from Rudolf. Sometimes everything seems to fail. Jenny bleeds for 6 with Govern + Conditioning, but cannot oust. Karl survives on 3 pool, ousts Igor and goes back to 9. At this point, there were about 5 minutes left on the clock. Karl has the only VP and would be winning if the timer runs out. Although Rudolf is at 3 pool, he has 2 ready vampires with Auspex vs. Karl's 3 remaining minions. And theoretically there could be time for Jenny to bleed once more, so the safest option is to pass turn.
Rudolf finally draws his Villein and would now be in a winning position, if only there was enough time. I am down to 5 pool and tapped out. Now or never. And looking at my ash heap he knows I have expended an incredible lot of wakes/traditions compared with the number of cards drawn. I could in fact be out of wakes and/or misdirections. But I wasn't. Sha-Ennu bleeds for 3 and I play my last remaining Eyes of Argus/Telepathic Misdirection combo to pass it to Jenny, who unfortunately has no more wakes to counter. Burning Dummy Corporation isn't enough, since she hangs on 1 pool, too. Out of sheer luck I win a VP and, by seed preference, the finals.
Thank you for an enthralling, if however slow-paced game.
Jyhadi Jens

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Players and decks

TheBard/Rudolf: Big Cap Tzimisce Toolbox
Horus/Jens: Toreador AAA Wall
Teylen/Jenny: Guillaume Giovanni Ally Location Bleed
kschaefer/Karl: Harbinger Wall
BeslinIgor/Igor:Harbinger Bleed

Judge: Hugh Angseesing

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Table before the two ousting turns (less than 10 minutes on the clock):

TheBard/Rudolf:
Sha-Ennu
Xipe Totec

Horus/Jens:
Francois Villon (Torpor)
Alexandra
Anson
Carlton Van Wyk

Teylen/Jenny:
Guillaume
Lia Milliner
Cristobal
Mylan Horseed
Leonardo, Mortician

kschaefer/Karl:
Babalawo
Neighbor John (Torpor)
Solomon Batanewa
Emerald Legionnaire
Emerald Legionnaire

BeslinIgor/Igor:
Erlik (Torpor)
Erebus (Torpor)